What Wild Animals Live In Us Virgin Islands
Over the years we have received an assortment of questions, usually about beaches, things to do and where to stay. Ane of the pop questions that is outside the trip planning box is whether there are whatever creepy crawly things. Then for today's blog we caught up with Dr. Renata Platenberg, Reptile Ecologist and an Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Management at the Academy of the Virgin Islands, to enquire about snakes and spiders in the U.Southward. Virgin Islands.
Q: Do nosotros have snakes in the USVI?
A: "Yes, five species on St. Thomas: Puerto Rican Racer, the Garden Snake, the endangered Virgin Islands Boa, the Bullheaded Serpent, plus the not-native Corn Snake. St. John does not take the Virgin Islands Boa, Corn Snake, or the Racer (just there may be the odd sighting of the latter), and St. Croix merely has the Blind Snake and another not-native blind snake the Rhamnotyphlops."
Are you a little bugged out by the knowledge that some things slither in the USVI? Rest assured all the snakes mentioned are harmless. Left lonely they will quietly slink away. Dr. Platenberg added, "The chances of a company coming across a ophidian are slim to none, I spend a good bargain of fourth dimension looking for them and my return for effort is getting smaller and smaller each year."
Except the corn snake, all are protected nether the Virgin Islands Lawmaking. And the Virgin Islands Boa is additionally federally protected nether the Endangered Species Human action. Each of these species has a critical role in the Vi ecosystem, and should be respected and admired for their amazing abilities to capture their often larger-than-themselves prey; lizards, frogs, and even the invasive giant cuban treefrog!
Update April 2021
This article used to continue with saying that hopefully you feel better now, we have snakes, just they are elusive. That is still true for St. Thomas, St. John, and H2o Island, just is not quite the case on St. Croix whatever longer, so nosotros followed up with Dr. Platenberg for more than information and she reported:
"Some other non-native serpent has increasingly become a problem for St. Croix. The Red-tailed Boa (Boa constrictor) is a popular pet, being easy to maintain in captivity. But individuals tin can get big: males upwardly to six feet or then, and females can reach 8 to10 feet. Animals this size can outgrow their space, and sometimes well-significant people permit them get in suitable habitat. This has become a major environmental threat in the Everglades where behemothic boas and pythons accept become established and are convenance and eating up native wildlife. Existence extremely hard to find in the wild, despite their enormous size, makes information technology challenging to apace respond by locating and removing them. The red-tailed boa, non to be confused with the native Half dozen tree boa, was discovered on the west end of St. Croix a few years ago, and it is thought that these were animals that were released in the aftermath of the Hovensa shutdown. Hovensa was a large refinery that operated on St. Croix, that had many employees that left island after information technology closed. Since information technology is virtually impossible to accept your pet snake off island due to travel restrictions, it's thought that some were released. Although not a danger to humans, these snakes volition swallow wild birds, chickens, and iguanas, and fifty-fifty, potentially, wandering pets".
Dr. Platenberg continued speaking on the topic of feral animals with a annotation to pet owners in the Virgin Islands, but information technology applies to pet owners everywhere really, with the following proffer:
"Feral animals, that is, those that are typically domesticated merely are now living wild, are a huge problem for native wildlife. Feral cats kill an enormous number of birds and lizards, dogs and pigs dig up sea turtle nests, and the big snakes often go later on the wetland birds similar herons, egrets, and ducks. It'south never a good idea to let an unwanted pet go, it'south non safety for the pet and terrible for the surround; the local animate being shelter is a good place to take "Slithery" and so it can be rehomed or humanely euthanized."
Q: Are there Spiders?
A: "We do alive on a tropical island, with plenty of forest, and hence lots and lots of arachnid variety! All spiders are venomous, it's how they digest their prey, only we have NO spiders that are harmful to humans! And yes, nosotros have several species of tarantula; they tin readily be seen out and near at night! Again, harmless!"
If your pare is crawling a fleck at the thought of lots and lots of spiders, think spiders eat tons of mosquito – so go spiders! And just in case you are thinking; "ok, got snakes, got spiders, what nearly scorpions". Yep, we have them besides. A couple different species in fact; their stings are painful but they are also non harmful.
Dr. Platenberg added, "It's important to recollect that the Virgin Islands are tropical dry wood islands, and they accept a diversity of invertebrates, snakes, bats, and frogs that should be expected in this type of habitat and climate. Each species is critically important. With nix especially dangerous to humans, it's far better to let them do their job than to impale them. The use of pesticides can harm birds, frogs, bats, lizards, and other non-target species, and should be avoided."
For all the reptile enthusiasts reading this mail service with keen interest, here are the scientific names of the snakes mentioned:
Puerto Rican Racer (Borikenophis portoricensis)
Garden Serpent (Magliophis exiguum; formerly Arrhyton exiguum),
Virgin Islands Boa (Chilobothrus granti; formerly Epicrates monensis granti)
Blind Serpent (Typhlops richardii)
Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus)
Source: https://vinow.com/blog/nature/virgin-islands-critters/
Posted by: schmidttheran.blogspot.com
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